Those souls who are employed in government departments
should approach their duties with entire detachment, integrity and independence
of spirit, and with complete consecration and sanctity of purpose. Content with
the wages they are receiving, they should see that they do not stain their fair
character through acts of bribery and fraud. Were one of the friends in this
day to misappropriate so much as a single penny, the sacred mantle of God's
Cause would become sullied by his action and the shame of it would attach to
the whole community. Heaven forbid! Nay, rather, the government and people
should come to repose such trust in the Bahá'ís as to wish to commit all
affairs of state throughout the provinces into the chaste, pure hands of God's
well-beloved.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (from a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations,
vol. I, Trustworthiness: A Cardinal Bahá'í Virtue)
